The ethnic Tajiks are an Iranian people, with a Sunni Muslim
heritage. During the seventy years of Soviet rule, when mosques were closed and the
practising of religion prohibited, Tajik Muslims continued to practise Islam in secret.

The revival of Islam has seen thousands of mosques constructed in
recent years.

Tajikistan, independent since 1991, is a mountainous country; its
highest point being Ismoili Somoni Peak (7,498 m), re-named in 1998 to commemorate an
early Tajik ruler.

The mountain, in the north-western Pamirs of north-east Tajikistan,
was known as Garmo Peak until 1933, and Stalin Peak until 1962; when the name of the
highest point in the former Soviet Union was changed to Communism Peak (Pik Kommunizma).